Change container



T. NEWMAN- CHANGE' CONTAINER vFiled OC'. 25, 1948 j@ :LE-.L-

May 2o, 1952 IN VEN TOR.

ewman,

77/20722a5 BY Patented May 20, 1952 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,597,365 CHANGE ooN'rAINER Thomas Newman, Anderson, Ind.

Y Application October 25, 1948, Serial No. 56,338

This invention relates to change containers and has special reference to portable change containers used in providing the clerks known as check-out clerks with change at the start of a days business and at such other times during business hours at which it is necessary or desirable to provide such a clerk with an additional supply o f change.

One important object of this invention is to provide a novel form of portable change conf tainer having a groove provided tray wherein the grooves are so proportioned that each is adapted to contain a denite size and value of coin.

Another important object of this invention is te provide a novel form of portable change container including a body provided with a slidable coin-carrying tray having coin holding grooves and the body having coin holding compartments beneath at least part of the area covered by the part divided into coin receiving receptacles and having a sliding closure for the rear ends of said receptacles.

With the above and other objects in View as will be presently apparent, the invention consists in general of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter fully described, illustrated in the accompanyingr drawings and particularly claimed.

In the accompanying drawings like characters cf reference indicate like parts in the several views, and

Figure 1 is a plan view of the invention.

l Figure 2 is an enlarged section on the -line 2-2 of Figure l.

Figure 3 is an enlarged section on the line 3-3 of Figure l.

Thisv invention may be made of Wood, plastic or other suitable material land in its construction there is provided a body indicated in general at 'upstandingl side walls` IIl and -at the front edge ofthe-bottom Il!A is ay front wall I 2. 'These side.

'and trontflw'alls arelor uniform height and con- 3 Claims. (C1. 20S-81) `money and the like.

neeted to the upper rear corners of the side walls II is a strip I!! which lies directly above the rear edge portionv I5 of the bottom I0.

Extending betweenV the side walls I I is a transverse portion I6l dividing the body to provide a front compartment I1 for the reception of paper Between the partition I6 and the strip I4 extend longitudinal partitions I8 dividing the rear part of the body into coin receptacles I9 each of proper width to receive like coins of a respective size and value. The strip I4 vis rabbeted las at 2B and the projecting bottom portion I5 is provided with a groove 2|. In the rabbet 20 and groove 2l istted a slide 22 forming a closure for the rear ends of the receptacles or compartments t9, the slide being provided with a thumb notch 22' for ease in manipulation.

"I'he side and front walls of the body project somewhat above the plane ofthe top edges ofthe partitions I6 and I8 and inthe inner face of the upwardly projecting portions of the sidewalls Il there are provided grooves 23'. The tray T has a bottom 24 provided with a'series of longitudinal grooves 25 which, when the tray isassembled on the body B, lie over respective compartments I9,

the grooves being segmental-cylindrical in form and having radii corresponding to those of the compartments which the grooves overlie. This tray bottom 24 rests on topof the partitions I6 and I8 and its sides are provided with ribs 26 en; gaging in the grooves 23 so that the tray is slidably positioned on the body B. The grooves 25 are suiciently shallow to afford flat spacing surfaces 21 which are; preferably provided with indicia 28 spaced along'theirsurfaces and-indicating the` numbers of coins in adjacent grooves 25. The rear ends ofthe grooves Z'E'are closed'by a rear wall 29 projecting above the bottom 24' and carryingV indicia 30 to show the values' or individual coins in the respective grooves.

The disclosed assemblage is designed more particularly for large scale service, such as department stores, chain stores, etc., where the large volume of business necessitates speed in handling individual transactions to enable expedition in handling the business and prevent the development of delays; the assemblage is usable either in the cashiers oice of the department store or at checking stations of chain stores utilizing customer selecting and collecting facilities and in which the check clerk tabulates the vThe assemblage'is stocked in thel accounting. room of the establishment, with the needed coin#- age and currency for change-making purposes, the front compartmental division of the body portion carrying an assortment of paper currency, the rear compartmental division of the body portion receiving a reserve stock of coins-generally in package and wrapped form, the packages being located in their proper compartments, and the top of the tray cover stocked with the coinage designed for the immediate active service, the coinage being distributed in the proper grooves. The clerk is charged in the accounting oflice records with the value of the stock of coinage and currency being supplied; the stocked assemblage is then taken to the station of the clerk for use by him.

In service, the clerk obtains the coin change from the active stock on the tray cover by drawing coins from the exposed ends of the stock present in the grooves; paper currency is obtained by sliding the cover rearwardly to expose the front compartmental division and into which bills of larger denominations tendered for payment are placed; the rearward sliding movement of the cover to expose the front division does not remove the cover from its sliding ways, so that cover movements between open and closed positions can be rapidly performed. The need for entering the cover into sliding ways is thus avoided, the cover retaining its status of a safety closure for the rear compartmental division at all times; coins tendered in payment of purchases are simply placed Within the proper cover grooves; when the coin content of a groove nears depletion, the rear sliding cover 22 is opened sufficiently to expose the end of the compartment therebelow and one of the wrapped packages therein taken out, unwrapped, and its content placed in the groove to replenish the active stock. These Various operations are performed with lrapidity, thus rendering the assemblage very efficient for ex-pediting the service, yet retaining the safety characteristic, since the cover during service is never moved out of the single plane in which it has its sliding movement (retaining the active stock in the grooves in proper position) and since the cover is returned to its closed position, if moved therefrom, at the close of each individual transaction, the safety factor of a sliding cover is constantly present.

The accountability is also expedited. When the assemblage is returned to the accounting department, the total monetary-value of the active coins of a groove is quickly obtained by simply applying pressure at the front end of the coin content of the groove, since the indicia 28 indicates the value. and simple tabulation of the total groove values will indicate the total value of the active coin stock; opening of slide 22 and tabulating the total value of the packages remaining in the respective compartments of the rear compartmental division gives the value of the residue reserve stock; sliding the cover rearward to expose the front compartmental division enables ready counting ofthe papercurrency. These activities can be quickly'performed, the totals of the three sources quickly obtained and tabulated, thus indicating the gross content; subtracting the value of the original stock therefrom, leaves the amount which represents the value of the sales made during the period and which should correspond with the totals of the tabulatorused at the checking station or with the `totality of the sales-slips presentedat the cashier, clerks station in the departmental service.

As a result, the assemblage enables expedited service operation for this particular class of business enterprise, a class in which rapid close of transactions is essential, especially during rush hours; the expedition is obtained without placing any excessive strain upon the clerk handling the assemblage in service, the assemblage being of simple type, not complicated in structure or operation, and yet operative under safety conditions.

What is claimed is:

l. A portable change assemblage for cashier and/or checker service comprising a rectangular body portion having a bottom, opposing side walls and a front wall, said side walls each having an internal mortised groove from front to rear in the wall upperzone with said walls having a vertical dimension between the mortise and the bottom sufficient to receive current coins of maximum dimensions, said body portion having a plurality of parallel partitions extending from front to rear to form a plurality of parallel compartments with the width dimension of a compartment suflicient to receive coins of a particular denomination; the respective compartment widths varying to accord with coins of diierent denominations, said body portion also having at its rear a narrow strip member connecting opposite side walls with the top of the strip below and in the vicinity of the bottom plane of the side mortises, said strip being mortised longitudinally on its bottom facel to cooperate with a similar mortise formed on the bottom upper face in forming sliding ways for a rear closure for the body portion positionable over the rear open ends of the several compartments, a slidable cover for service as such rear closure, said body portion also having a partition extending transversely through the mid-length zone of the compartments to thereby divide the compartments into front and rear divisions, with the front division adapted to receive denominations of paper currency and with the rear divisions serving as reserve coin carriers, and a changecarrying cover slidably mounted in said side wall mortises in overlying relation to the body portion compartments, said cover having a material thickness and having its top face extending on a plane above and parallel with the top plane of the front and side walls, said cover top face being formed with parallel grooves extending from front to rear of the face with the respective groove cross-sections each conforming to the contour of an arcuate zone of a coin of a par- 'ticular denomination and with the respective groove cross-sections varying to accord with coins of different denominations, the depth of a groove positioning its lowest point of the groove below such top plane of the front and side walls to thereby place the front wall as a stop' to limit the forward position of the cover and its content, said cover having an upstanding flange in its rear zone active as an abutment at the rear ends of the grooves, whereby the assemblage is serviceable for change making with the cover in closed position, the cover being slidable rearwardly to expose the front compartmental division for the deposit of and exchange of paper currency and with the rear closure slidable to permit transfer of reserve coins from the body portion rear cornpartmental division to respective grooves to replenish depleted coin :stocks of the cover grooves.- 2. An assemblage asA in claim l Acharacter-ized4 in that the cover grooves correspond-in'number and position with the compartments of the rear compartmental division of the body portion to thereby place the active and the reserve stocks of coin denominations in direct vertical alinement to permit rapid transfer from reserve to active status at will by sliding movement of the rear closure and while the top cover remains in normal closed position.

3. An assemblage as in claim 1 characterized in that the top face of the cover has one of the side marginal ribs of its grooves carrying indicia relative to the thickness dimensions of the coins for which the groove is active in service, the indicia being calibrated in terms of a multiple number of coins between successive indications and with the coin fractional value represented by a xed composite value to thereby facilitate rapid accounting of the groove content.

6 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the le of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 208,902 Fuller Oct. 15, 1878 339,420 Hubbard et al Apr. 6, 1886 525,509 OLeary Sept. 4, 1894 952,699 Brien Mar. 22, 1910 1,109,873 Schoen Sept. 8, 1914 1,455,783 Ftyklo May 22, 1923 1,944,502 Factor Jan. 23, 1934 2,477,921 Batton et al. Aug. v'2, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 57,661 Denmark May 20, 1940 251,426 Great Britain May 6, 1926 294,776 Great Britain Aug. 2, 1928 

